In large scale fully mobile crushing stations, large sizing stations have capacities in the range of 8,000 tons per hour to 12,000 tons per hour of capacity for receiving material to be crushed and crushing that material to a desired size for further transport. Due to the size of such machines, the frame or chassis of the machines must be capable of supporting a substantial amount of weight. The machines usually include a hopper to receive material from mobile shovel loading devices such as rope shovel devices or front loading shovel devices. A conveyor is often used to transport the material fed to the hopper to a sizing device for sizing the material. Another conveyor below the sizing device typically receives that material and feeds it to another device such as a transport vehicle, luffing conveyor, or a conveyor device so that the sized material may be transported to a new location.
When it is desired to move the mobile station to a new location, many types of mobile sizing stations must be completely evacuated of any material so that the station may be moved or relocated to a new location. This is particularly true for systems that utilize a single fixed carbody for the frame of the device. The evacuation of the machine may take many hours of operational downtime during a working shift, which substantially elevates operational costs. These costs are greatly exacerbated by the fact that such mobile stations often have to move every few hours.
Other types of mobile sizing stations may utilize a hopper that is positioned on a portion of a tracked frame. The tracks may help make the mobile station more easily moveable when loaded with material. However, the track supported hoppers often greatly limit steering capabilities of the device. For instance, movement of the device over inclined portions of land may be difficult or slow, if not impossible, due to the weight of the hopper and the material retained in the hopper. Often, very wide ramps that use relatively small grades are utilized for moving such mobile stations. The small grades are usually needed to permit the station to be moveable along the inclined surface of the ramp. The work required to make such ramps greatly increases the operational costs associated with such mobile stations. Further, generally steering within a portion of a work site may be more time consuming and difficult due to the poor steering provided by such tracked mobile sizing stations.
A new mobile sizing station is needed that has a high capacity for receiving material to be crushed while also having improved mobility that reduces the downtime associated with the moving of the mobile station. Preferably the device is sized and configured to permit both lower operational costs and lower capital costs associated with the manufacture and use of the device.